The stables is owned by a New Zealand couple Natalie and TJ, who have built it up over the last eight years and breed their own thoroughbred horses, currently 24 of them.
My horse was called Bullet Train, although happily for me since this was my first ever experience of horseback riding, he was anything but fast, and spent most of the ride trying (and succeeding) to munch on stolen maize and grass stalks whenever I let the reins slacken. The guides that came with us were very good and gave us advice on how to control the horses. I got up to a rising trot but decided that was probably fast enough for a novice.
We started off riding high above the Nile, and then turned inland and meandered along red dirt tracks through a village - fairly widely spread small mud-brick built cottages with corrugated sheet metal roofs, with goats, chickens and small children wandering about outside. The children all waved and called out to us "Hello, how are you?", and a few brave puppies barked at us as we went by. Most of the houses had crops growing all around - maize, mango trees and and purple leaved sweet potatoes planted in carefully piled mounds of soil. Many also had piles of white maize kernels on the swept-earth yard drying in the sun - the maize is ground and made into porridge, which is a staple that children are fed.
It was a really idyllic morning - lovely to meander through the countryside in the hot sun, and to escape from the hustle and bustle of Kampala city life.
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